If you ask a business owner what’s his highest converting marketing effort, or by simply conducting a careful observation on how you end up purchasing a product, you can conclude that it’s mostly through referrals.

On this post I will share ideas on how to use social media in marketing your business. I will only be sharing the ones that I personally tried for my Web Design service.

“Social media is the new word of mouth“

1. Join in active groups or communities and Add Value

Look for Google+ communities or Facebook groups (1) where your target clients hangout, and (2) make sure that these groups are active. An active group have threads of conversations and its community members are commenting on each other’s posts.

Once a group accepted your request to join them, make sure to participate and add value. Doing this will show the members of the group who you are and what your expertise are – call this one the I-will-impress-you strategy. Join in conversations by sharing helpful ideas that will add value to the group. Make sure to review the group’s policies and abide with them. You may occasionally share links from websites, including yours, that will be of help to the topic they are discussing.

Starting a thread may make a buzz about you in the group a lot faster. Try asking questions that experts in your group can answer or post polls that anyone can participate on.

2. Use images

People tend to spend more time looking at an image compare to reading loads of words. When starting your own thread or commenting on existing ones, use eye catching images. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to produce nice graphics, use free online image editing tools like Photopixel or Picmonkey. OR hire a graphic designer to produce shareable images you can use in your social media marketing effort.

3. Use Private Messaging

When connecting with potential clients contact them directly. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have this function. This strategy will give your message a high rate of getting noticed compare to commenting on threads. Plus, you don’t want your sales pitch be seen by everyone to avoid price war with competitors and social media trolls.

(Your message on Facebook might end up on the OTHER INBOX but still is worth a shot than commenting publicly.)

4. Use Hashtags to Prospect

Hashtag is an essential feature to utilize and must be added to your marketing arsenal. The # is a hash symbol, hence the term hash tag or, as you know now, hashtag. It makes it easier for people to find and follow discussions on just about anything; from people to events, from music to politics and whatnots.

Make use of this social media feature to connect with potential clients by doing hashtag searches. As an example; if your product is the cure for acne, you may use on the search bars of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Google plus, hashtags like #iHateAcne, #AcneProblem or #AcneSucks. You will be surprised to see how many people are dying for what you have to offer.

Having known this trick, you may also want to appear on the searches whenever people search for hashtags that revolve around your business. So the next time you’ll be twitting or posting on Facebook or Instagram, make sure you use a proper hashtag.

5. Be consistent with your efforts.

This may be the most important tip I can give when it comes to social media marketing. Yes you can comment on threads and give value, you can use good looking and quality images, and you may master the technique of using hashtags with your searches and postings, but without consistency all your efforts will be a waste.

Grabbing people’s attention is one thing, but wanting them to always look for you is another. Of course, the latter is what you want to accomplish in this game of social media marketing. Apply the above tips to get you ahead of the competition.